Monday, October 23, 2006

Health: Israel suspends flu vaccinations after four men die

Israel's Health Ministry has suspended flu vaccinations after four men who had been inoculated died in the past week. The ministry said it had asked the French firm Aventis , which manufactured the vaccine, to conduct its own investigation.

Three of the four men who died had been vaccinated at the same medical centre and injected from the same vaccine pool. The men were aged 52 to 76 and three died from cardiac arrest - the cause of death for the fourth man is not known at the time of writing.

According to hospital officials they all suffered from ailments including diabetes and heart disease.